Fire

Yan stood outside the mine, looking at the sky boredly.

There is a long and steep downhill road leading to the mine. Even the light from the fire lit outside the mine cannot illuminate the pitch-black bottom of the cave.

The nights in Cang County recently were windy and sky-high, and the moon was particularly bright.

The reflection of the starry sky was reflected in Yan's raised eyes, emitting a clear light.

The bright color circulated in his eyes for a while, then turned into a meteor in the sky, flying away into the distance with clouds and smoke.

“…Ah, there are stars.”

The vast sky stretches as far as the eye can see, and tiny humans can only stand on solid ground to watch the scene that cannot be reached with their hands and can only be sealed in their minds.

A distant voice came from the bottom of his ear. Yan blinked and turned to look at the person next to him.

Yan, who was guarding the other side of the mine, had strolled up to him at some point. They were almost the same height and were standing side by side, looking at the horizon.

As my sight caught sight of him, I first saw the fair skin of Yan as he tilted his head back, and then his profile as he looked towards the stars.

The handsome face was outlined by the darkness of the night, and the dark light obscured his eyebrows. Yan blinked and stared for a moment before he could see the faint nostalgia in his eyes.

"Did I see you last time?"

"……Um."

Yan came back to his senses and remembered something because of his question. The two looked at each other for a moment and smiled knowingly.

"That was when we were still together."

"...I don't know where he is now."

The night wind was still warm, and autumn had arrived here earlier than in Cang County. Yan subconsciously lifted his collar to block the wind that was trying to get into his neck.

Black clothes blend into the night and are the best protective color.

When Yan looked back, he could no longer see Yan's clenched fingertips hidden under his sleeves.

"Um."

"But we'll see each other again."

His gaze fell on Yan's hand hanging at his side for a moment, then moved to the starry sky in the sky again.

The trails of those stars always flash by without a trace, stretching their paths into the endless distance.

And if their wish is just to meet again, they only need to move slightly up to a corner of the bright starlight, then under another sky, those who are looking at the starry sky at the same time will surely find them.

—

Qin Lanyuan on the other side was not reminiscing about the past like Yan and Yan, but was immersed in the beautiful and warm atmosphere.

The two guards looked at him as if he were a treasure. Their gaze paused for a moment above Qin Lan's head, then shifted away. Then they looked at each other silently, and a question mark appeared behind Qin Lan's eyes.

[The Pavilion Master wasn't hurt, was he?]

[There shouldn't be any, just small stones.]

After communicating with each other for a while, one of the men cautiously walked to the front and looked around for a while. Then, with the light of the mining lamp, he slowly moved his gaze upwards until his gaze met Qin Lan's calm gaze. He suddenly looked away and suppressed the heart that was about to take off.

Catching a glimpse of the quiet question in Qin Lan's gaze, the general felt as if he had seen Duke Xiao. He shrank slightly to the side, then bravely poked his head out and asked, "Pavilion Master, just now...?"

"What just happened?"

Qin Lan looked back at him and walked forward, but his eyes never left the guard's face.

Being looked at by their own leader was so frightening that the subordinates almost jumped up from the cold chill.

"It's nothing, it's nothing, I just said it casually, I hope you don't mind it."

“…”

The soldiers following behind Qin Lan wanted to laugh, but when they saw that Qin Lan looked particularly calm, with no smile on his face, they forced themselves to stop laughing.

The conversation ended awkwardly. The guard retracted his neck and continued to lead the way seriously, then stopped at a corner.

It's quiet here and there is no light ahead.

Qin Lan raised the mining lamp in his hand forward, and the flickering light dimmed a small area of ​​land in front of him. He looked a little further forward, and the darkness silently swallowed up the remaining light. The creatures lurking on the road ahead, hunched over, staring at him vigilantly.

Since we can't find a deeper path, we can only keep moving forward.

Qin Lan sighed slightly and shook his head: "Let's go first. Have you explored this road?"

"Well... I explored a short section, but that was when Zuihualou was about to fall, so the exploration of this section of the road was cut off."

Qin Lan nodded thoughtfully, his eyes flashing with some difficult-to-understand emotions.

"Then why is there no sound from the front?"

Buqu paused for a moment and could only offer his own guess: "Perhaps Lu's order has expired."

The passage ahead was winding, and after silence, only the sound of footsteps could be heard. The further in, the less oxygen there was, and even the mining lamp in my hand became a little dimmer.

The cavalryman stood at a fork in the road, looked around, and turned back to seek his companions' advice: "Should we go this way?"

"……Um."

After a moment of identification, the troops following Qin Lan nodded and said, "This is it. Let's go."

After figuring out the direction, the soldiers calmed down and continued walking along the road ahead until they reached the mine wall in front of them and saw several figures who seemed to be "facing the wall and reflecting on their mistakes."

They stood there in a daze, their hands still hanging down, holding the pickaxes they used to dig the mine. The clothes they were wearing had lost their original color, completely covered by the unique black of the mine.

Qin Lan walked around them with the miner's lamp in hand, then turned to look at his subordinates: "Did Yu He say he wanted to get involved in the affairs here?"

Qin Lan hasn't seen Yu He since he learned from him about the death of the goddess. He had wanted to find him to discuss the plants in the mine, but found that his original office was deserted, and the package belonging to the goddess was nowhere to be found.

The general replied, "No, Commander Yu... must have his own things to do. He has been in charge of the epidemic in Cang County recently."

The medicinal herbs that can relieve the plague are these black mineral herbs in the mine. If Tao Yu had not received the information from his master, Qin Lan felt that he would not have run to the mine to find a rare mineral herb as an antidote to the plague.

The guard standing nearby didn't think much of the "rescue herbs growing next to the minerals" aspect. He observed the 'people' in front of him for a moment, then turned to ask Qin Lan: "Pavilion Master, should we take these people away?"

Qin Lan gathered his scattered thoughts and looked up at the 'person' standing numbly in front of him for a moment. Thinking that Xiao Yingzhu had not left any instructions for him, he waved his hand.

"Let it go for now. I'll ask Tao Yu after I get out of the mine."

Buqu shifted his gaze away from the rows of 'people' in front of him and took a few steps to the side.

"That's all the Pavilion Master wants to see. Then there's the issue of how to deal with these mines—"

Before he could finish his words, he saw Qin Lan in front of him fall into deep thought.

After a few seconds of pause, the general asked tentatively, "Pavilion Master?"

Recalling what Xiao Yingzhu had told him, Qin Lan went over the list of tasks that needed to be completed in his mind. He then looked up and said, "Well, let's see which minerals in this mine are needed by Miss Jiang. You can take them out together."

"yes."

Now they had to go back along the way to find other troops to help. Qin Lan had no excessive curiosity about these "people". He walked back with the lantern in hand, glancing at the dark and rugged mine walls. Suddenly, he said, "One more thing."

"Xiao Yingzhu gave you a map of the locations of the remaining mines earlier. Do you have time to explore them?"

"Yes." No matter what the Pavilion Master said, the subordinate subconsciously wanted to respond, but then realized Qin Lan's question and replied after a while: "According to the Pavilion Master's instructions, someone has been sent to investigate."

"Some places are remote and we haven't reached the corresponding locations yet. In other places, when the troops were investigating, we saw that there were people related to His Majesty guarding them."

Qin Lan nodded thoughtfully, not surprised by the result. "That's fine. His Majesty has entrusted the Seven Gorges Mine to us. When the time comes, we can just send a letter to him under Xiao's name. The rest will be handled by Xiao."

Anyway, it was Xiao Yingzhu's need, not his.

As someone who knew that the Pavilion Master was acting as a "middleman" in this matter, Bu Qu was still a little worried that the people above would come down and blame them, but he was silenced by Qin Lan's smiling gaze.

...I have to say, their leader is really becoming more and more like Duke Xiao, especially when it comes to threatening people.

A glance at that half-smiling face makes one feel a little chilly.

The buqu retracted his neck to his collar and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes."

Qin Lan didn't continue to talk about this topic, but changed his curious question: "Do you know where Yu He went?"

"I remember that I rarely saw him after the Zuihualou incident."

It’s strange to say, Cang County is not a big place, and Yu He’s recent main job is also here, but even though I wanted to go and see him, I couldn’t find anyone.

Either he is hiding from someone, or he has gone somewhere.

The guards were a little confused about Qin Lan's concern for Yu He, but they still answered truthfully: "I remember hearing from Commander Yu's subordinates recently that Commander Yu had some private matters to attend to and would not be in Cang County for the time being."

"Not in Cang County?"

Qin Lan emerged from the mine, the fresh air instantly dispelling the oppressive air surrounding him. He raised his hand to wave away the air in front of him for a moment, untied the mask covering his face, and cleared his throat several times.

"Where is he then?"

"This... I don't know either."

Yan and Yan, who were guarding the mine, came forward and saw that Qin Lan had only asked half of the question, so they both raised their eyes and looked at him.

Noticing the gaze of the person next to him, Qin Lan turned his eyes to the side: "What's wrong?"

Yan glanced at Yan and replied, "Pavilion Master, weren't you asking about Commander Yu's whereabouts?"

"Um."

Facing Qin Lan's gaze, Yan continued, "Commander Yu has a close relationship with the goddess. He must have gone to Xiaoxiang."

"...Xiaoxiang?"

Qin Lan paused for a moment and asked again, "Did Xizhen go there too?"

"Yes, Master."

...The identities of Xizhen and Yuhe are very different in the eyes of Emperor Changde.

Qin Lan glanced at the mine behind him. The torch stuck in the wall was still burning, licking the firewood on the torch stand.

"What's his reason for going?"

Xuan lowered his eyes and shook his head slightly.

"I don't know about that."

“…”

Qin Lan suddenly felt a headache. He raised his hand to press his head, sighed helplessly and said, "Forget it, let's go back first."

"...Really? Did you hide your majesty's secret from going to Xiaoxiang under such circumstances?"

They are all really a worry.

Looking back, it seems that he was the one who did the least and followed the rules the most.

The rest either concealed their identities, or concealed the fact that they were acting alone from Emperor Changde, or were openly at odds with Emperor Changde while secretly harboring an important person...

Yan seemed to have thought the same thing as Qin Lan, and he echoed in a serious tone, "Yes, Pavilion Master."

Thinking that he still needed to reply to Jiang Nian, Qin Lan closed his eyes and pointed down the mountain: "Forget it, forget it. They will have their own fate anyway. Never mind, let's go back. I'm really exhausted after climbing the mountain all day."

Yan, who had received the order, immediately became angry. He exchanged a glance with Yan, and seeing the slightly relaxed expressions on the other soldiers' faces, he smiled and said, "In that case, Pavilion Master, why don't we... carry you down?"

?

Qin Lan's legs, which were already a little weak, suddenly stopped, and he suddenly had a bad premonition.

What does it mean to memorize it?

Soon, Qin Lan knew what Yan and Yan meant -

They had come up to him at some point and suddenly lifted up his arms. He lost his balance as his eyes fell back. When he was about to break free, he found that his legs were lifted up by the other two unknown soldiers.

The whole person was being carried by four people in a spread-eagle position. Looking up at the sky, he could only catch a glimpse of the dark moonlight shining through the branches and leaves. The stars hidden in the night sky flickered in Qin Lan's eyes, and he felt his body was bumpy and spinning.

"No? What are you doing—"

There was an extremely bumpy and steep section of road between the mine and the ground. Coupled with the fact that the four people carrying him moved at an unusual speed, Qin Lan's vision was lost. He caught a glimpse of the extremely high distance between the mine and the roof of the mansion below, and he almost fainted from fright.

His heart was thrown into the air, and he really couldn't bear it, especially when they loosened their hands the next moment and the whole person was lifted into the air -

“??? What are you guys doing?!”

"I can't take it anymore, please put me down--!!!"